From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

After completing the acquisition of the musket workshop, Lawrence, Grosso and his entourage continued to stay temporarily at the Marseille City Hall for a few days, waiting for Mayor Josip to coordinate with the merchant guild to rent a large merchant ship to carry soldiers to Malta. .

Although the Bourgeois of the Merchant Guild controls a considerable number of civilian ships, there are not many large merchant ships converted from decommissioned warships that meet Lawrence's requirements. They are basically the core assets of each chamber of commerce, so they want to collect them all. A certain number of merchant ships will also require a certain amount of time for coordination and communication from the city hall.

While waiting, Major Trifalli in southern Corsica also received an order from Lawrence. After he explained the affairs of the good army, he immediately rushed to Marseille with the design drawings and samples of the new rifled gun and began to take over the company. Musket workshop.

Although Major Trifali was very reluctant to leave the army for a period of time, the major who was a gunsmith and quartermaster was still full of excitement when he thought that a revolutionary weapon designed and invented by himself was about to be put into production in this factory. With enthusiasm and fighting spirit, he started discussing the specific details of mass production with the gunsmiths in the workshop on the day he arrived in Marseille.

And Lawrence doesn't have to worry about the impact that Major Cui Farley's departure from the army will have on the command structure of the National Defense Forces.

After all, as an imperial marshal in history, Major Serurier was undoubtedly an outstanding adjutant.

With his assistance, Lawrence commanded Corsica's Cofa coalition, which only had more than 6,000 people, which was more than enough.

In addition, Baron Bertula has not contacted Lawrence again in the past few days.

Although Lawrence was somewhat concerned about the Italian nobleman who picked up Baron Bertula on the pier that day, after all, he was not on his own territory, and Lawrence did not yet have the ability to send spies to Marseille to find out the identity of the Italian nobleman.

Although Alderman Josip has come to the point of obeying Lawrence, he must not have the courage to send someone to monitor the British ambassador's social circle. Once this kind of thing comes to light, it will be a serious diplomatic incident, and his position as Alderman will be It's hard to keep.

Lawrence only learned from Mayor Yosip that the ambassador did not accept official hospitality from the city hall, but was living in the resort estate of a British nobleman in the countryside.

"Xia Dia must extend her intelligence tentacles to Marseille as soon as possible." Seeing more and more unknown information in front of him, Lawrence couldn't help but feel a little depressed, and secretly decided that he must expand his sphere of influence as soon as possible. Marseille city.

Time passed slowly, and on the morning of September 20, Mayor Yosip finally sent someone to inform Lawrence:

Six large merchant ships converted from decommissioned fourth-class ships have emptied their internal cargo and are neatly moored at the port pier, ready to follow Lawrence's instructions and sail out of Marseille Port at any time.

These cargo ships are very similar to the White Rose that Lawrence originally sailed on. They all had a gun deck removed to expand the cargo hold capacity, while maintaining considerable firepower to deter pirates paddling galleys.

Considering that Baron Bertula only gave a vague time period for the Royal Navy's attack, in order not to delay the fighter plane, Lawrence did not accept Mayor Josip's plea to stay and ordered the fleet to set sail for Ajaccio at noon that day.

In order to prevent this fleet from appearing too conspicuous on the high seas, Lawrence specifically ordered six merchant ships to set sail at different times and hoisted the flags of different countries on the main masts to confuse the Royal Navy's reconnaissance and make them mistakenly It is thought that these six ships belong to different shipowners.

The fleet did not stay too long after arriving in Ajaccio. After boarding the Wehrmacht soldiers and the French army under Major Serrurier, they only made some necessary supplies and hurriedly left the port, heading directly towards The voyage to the island of Malta begins.

Six ships sailed in a line formation on the high seas. The distance between them was very far, and only the blurry shapes of the ships in front and behind were barely visible.

Fortunately, the weather was calm during the voyage, and we did not encounter frightening thunderstorms or strong winds.

Occasionally, one or two single square-sailed pirate ships can be seen during the voyage, but these small-scale pirates obviously have little interest in armed merchant ships with strong firepower, and they have no intention of even approaching to intrude.

On September 24, after more than three days of sailing, the flagship at the forefront of the fleet could vaguely see the island of Malta not far away and the outline of the city above.

The routes in this sea area are obviously much denser than those in the high seas. Every few minutes, a ship sails into or out of Valletta, Malta's main port. The captains sell food, fresh water and other supplies here, and at the same time sell them at low prices. At a price, the Knights of Malta took away the trade goods looted from the sea.

From time to time, you can see three or five schooners sailing out of Valletta Port in groups. Their masts are all hoisted with the same eight-pointed cross flag, which is also the symbol of the Knights of Malta.

There is no doubt that this is the knights preparing to carry out their livelihood - pirate raids.

Lawrence and his men were all on the forefront of the ship, in order to be able to express their intention to the knights on the island as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary conflicts.

Due to the close distance between Malta and Sicily, the so-called Maltese on the island is actually a dialect of Italian.

Only a few people who are descendants of the Knights from Rhode Island use a dialect similar to Arabic, so for Lawrence, Grosso and Serurier, it is not easy to communicate with the locals. question.

"Malta, I really don't want to come here." Grosso put his hands on the wooden planks of the ship's bow, looking at the increasingly clear outline of the island of Malta, and said unhappily:

"There is no fun at all on the island. Even drinking is prohibited. Alas, those knights just practice abstaining from alcohol and impose this rule on us poor people."

Lawrence silently listened to Grosso's complaints, stroking a gold cross necklace on his chest. This was a farewell gift from Prince Louis to Lawrence when he left Paris.

"Who are those knights?" Major Serurier seemed to admire Grosso's knowledge and asked curiously.

Grosso frowned slightly, recalled a little, shook his head and sighed:

"A group of people who are pious to the point of stupidity. They are all members of the monastery. They have to abide by the strict rules and precepts on weekdays. I really admire them for this. They fight as if they are risking their lives, shouting for God's blessing." Just wave your sword and charge forward."

"No wonder they were able to withstand the siege of the Turks two hundred years ago." Major Serulier nodded with admiration.

"It's like being brainwashed." Lawrence shook his head and interjected.

"Yes, it's brainwashing. That's a good word to use, Lawrence." Grosso gave Lawrence a thumbs up in approval.

"Really?" Major Serulier touched his chin in confusion, looked at the galleys flying on the waves with the eight-pointed cross flag, and asked in confusion:

"Then they still make a living by plundering merchant ships? Jesus didn't teach us to plunder with the sword to make a living."

Grosso shrugged nonchalantly, spread his hands and said:

"The knights still think that what they are doing is a just act. There is nothing wrong with attacking the Muslim pagans. They regard it as a gift from God to grab some property."

"Didn't you say that they would also attack Christian ships?" Major Serurier asked with a frown as he watched the Knights' ships sail out of Valletta Port.

"Hey, when they attack Christians, they will think of the other party as a guilty person, a heretic, or a heretic who pretends to convert. Anyway, they just give the other party a name that makes them feel comfortable. Priest Aren’t we the best at this?”

"Uh, okay, I probably understand."

Major Serurier nodded helplessly. As a fairly devout Catholic, he felt that he had nothing to say at this moment.

While everyone was chatting, the merchant ship flying the French Iris Citi slowly sailed into the Port of Valletta and was cooperating with the people on shore to berth the ship at the pier.

Lawrence stood at the bow of the ship and carefully looked at the city in front of him. He couldn't help but sigh. No wonder the Ottomans two hundred years ago spent more than two months and failed to capture this tiny island:

Just in Lawrence's field of vision at this moment, there were five strong and tall castles, two of which were located on both sides of the port, guarding the entrance to the island of Malta like the Janissary guards at the entrance to the palace; the remaining three were The fortresses are scattered in three corners of the city, and are connected by walls to facilitate the transfer of defenders between castles.

More small fortresses and towers are interspersed between the streets of the city like regular residential buildings. These small fortifications were probably built during the siege of Malta.

It is hard to imagine that such a dense group of fortresses could be built in such a small area of ​​​​the island of Malta. You must know that the area and population of Valletta Port are not even half of Ajaccio.

Major Serulier on the side also looked at the castles all over Valletta Port in surprise, shook his head and sighed:

"What an amazing fortification. If I were a commander about to attack the island of Malta, I would definitely have nightmares for several days."

"Yeah, but..." While sighing, Lawrence also noticed keenly:

"These fortifications seem to have been built during the Siege of Malta or even earlier. If the British Royal Navy attacks from the front, it should be able to defeat the Knights' defense relatively easily by using the naval guns of the line battleships to bombard them from the sea. "

The island of Malta is originally a small island without any depth, and those large and sturdy-looking fortresses are basically built on the seaside. It can be said that the entire island is directly exposed to the firepower of naval guns.

It is impossible for the Knights to gain control of the sea in front of the Royal Navy. Therefore, in a frontal attack, the British can use line ships to surround the entire island and bombard it wildly, instead of rowing galleys like the Ottomans and trying to force a landing. Island; under such fire bombardment, it would be difficult for the Knights to replicate the miracle of the siege of Malta.

"Hey, that's true." Major Serurier nodded after thinking carefully:

"The Royal Navy's line battleships are not like the Ottoman galleys. Artillery technology has also advanced very rapidly in the past two hundred years. It may be difficult for these fortresses to block the British attack."

Lawrence smiled slightly, looked at the tall castles standing on the seaside, shook his head and said:

"That would be really good news for us."

…

While the two were discussing, the merchant ship at their feet had also anchored in Valletta Port.

Immediately afterwards, an official wearing a gray and white short robe and walking defiantly boarded the upper deck of the merchant ship.

Although there must be no formal customs agency in a small Knights territory like Malta, there must be personnel who exercise similar powers. The man in short robes in front of him is obviously the commissioner responsible for inspecting and taxing merchant ships.

The commissioner stood on the upper deck with great dignity and dignity. Judging from his clothes and demeanor, he was obviously not a knight of the monastic order.

He did not rush to check the cargo hold. Instead, he pinched his raised mustache with a smile on his face, and shouted to Grosso among the three:

"Hey, you're the captain, right? As per the old rules, we're going to conduct a contraband search."

In the opinion of the commissioner, among the three, only Grosso, a tall, dark-skinned man with a faint smell of sea salt all over his body, looked like a captain, so he bypassed Lawrence and Seruli directly. The two of them thought Grosso was the one who called the shots here.

But even so, the tone he shouted to Grosso was full of contempt, and he just emphasized the word "old rules."

Lawrence couldn't help but look at Grosso, but without revealing his true identity, he just asked softly:

"Old rules? What do you mean?"

Of course, Lawrence didn't know much about these slang words that only those who often wandered at sea knew.

Of course Grosso had experienced a lot, but he just shrugged and said bluntly:

"What's the point of asking for a bribe? If you don't give him a large amount of money, even if you arrive in an empty ship, you will be found hundreds of pounds of contraband."

The commissioner suddenly became furious after hearing Grosso's words. He thought it was the captain who was openly mocking him, and immediately shouted angrily:

"Hey! Do you want to show that you know a lot? You bastard!"

Grosso spread his hands with a playful smile and chuckled:

"Please calm down, Mr. Commissioner, but we really don't have a single copper on board. You may be disappointed."

The commissioner stroked his beard to calm down the anger in his heart, snorted and said like an order:

"No cash? That's easy. Hmm, are there any valuable items on the ship? Show them to me. There's always liquor, right? Move a few boxes down for me."

"What a pity, Mr. Commissioner, there doesn't seem to be any of these," Grosso said with a cheesy sigh.

"You!" The commissioner was filled with anger again, pointed at Grosso's nose and shouted:

"Are you kidding me? You have no money and no goods. What did you come to Malta for? What's in the cabin?"

"They seem to be all human beings, Mr. Commissioner."

"Human? Oh - a slave ship, right?"

The commissioner suddenly understood and nodded, and immediately turned from anger to laughter, with a lewd smile appearing on his long and obscene face:

"Are there any young and beautiful women? You can pull a few down for me."

"They are all men in their prime, no women." Grosso said with a serious face while suppressing a smile.

"A man in his prime? Not bad, he can sell it for a good price." The commissioner couldn't help but look at Grosso with a much gentler look, rubbed his hands and said with a grin:

"You don't mind if I take a few slaves, Captain?"

"Of course!" Grosso waved his hand generously and walked to the trap door to open it for the commissioner like a waiter in a high-end restaurant. He pointed to the wooden ladder leading to the cargo hold and said:

"You can choose it yourself."

The commissioner nodded with satisfaction and climbed down the wooden ladder. Before going down, he did not forget to say:

"Hmph, you're a smart kid."